


Take me Instead

by Zoejoy24



Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Hostage Situations, Light Angst, M/M, Malcolm is a Self-Sacrificing Idiot, Minor Injuries, Whump, Whumptober 2020, Worried Gil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26970205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoejoy24/pseuds/Zoejoy24
Summary: He's never been a hostage like this before.  It's not a pleasant experience.***Written for Whumptober 2020Prompt No 9. FOR THE GREATER GOOD - “Take Me Instead”
Relationships: Gil Arroyo/Malcolm Bright
Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947349
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Take me Instead

**Author's Note:**

> Well I'm a couple days late on this one. 😔 But late whump is better than no whump, right?

Gil chuckles as his fiancé checks his watch for the fifth time in as many minutes. They've been waiting in line for at least half an hour, and it feels like they haven’t moved at all. But the wait is worth it to finally get their marriage license.

His phone rings and he scowls when he sees that it's his boss—in name if not function—planting a quick kiss on Bright’s lips by way of apology, and promising to be back before they get to the front of the line, before stepping out to take the call.

Gil zones out, barely listening to the man on the other end drone on. Another call comes through, startling him from whatever daydream he’s fallen into—almost certainly about his upcoming wedding. He's surprised to see it's Malcolm, and answers immediately, knowing the kid wouldn't call if it wasn't urgent. 

"Hey Bright, need me to come back in?"

_"No_ ," Malcolm hisses, and Gil is taken aback by the intensity of the single word. "We have a situation, I don't know what they want, but there's people here with guns. They haven't reached us yet, but they will any minute. _Shit_. I'm going to mute you, don't hang up."

The line goes silent, though the call remains connected. A moment later Gil hears the unmistakable sound of automatic rifle fire in the background, and the frightened screams of those around Malcolm, as well as Malcolm’s muffled curses.

It takes Gil a moment to process what the hell just happened, but then he springs into action, grabbing the next person he sees and asking to use their phone, dialling 911 and giving the dispatcher what details he can before turning his full attention back to his call with Malcolm.

It's torture to listen to the hostage situation unfolds, while he waits outside, unable to do anything but wait.

He hears the shouted demands of angry men, ordering everyone to lay on the ground and empty their pockets. 

"Gil, I love you," he hears, so soft he almost misses it, and his breath catches in his throat at the fear he hears in Malcolm’s voice.

There's a rustle, more background noises, and Gil waits in horrible anticipation for the call to end. But it never does.

Gil listens as whoever collected Malcolm’s phone continues to yell at the hostages to stay down, to keep their heads lowered. He doesn't hear any demands—someone else must be making those. 

SWAT arrives, and dozens of other officers. Gil does his best to fill in the officer in charge of the situation, while still listening to what's happening on the other end of the line. Soon, they’re able to make contact with whoever is calling the shots inside the building, and the hostage negotiator starts to do her job. 

Suddenly, a commotion breaks out on the other end of the call, and Gil steps away, focused entirely on what's happening inside.

"We need an insurance policy. Grab her, and let's go!" someone yells.

He hears a woman's voice, begging and crying before she's ordered to shut up. Then, he hears Malcolm.

"No, wait! Take me instead! She's pregnant, please let her go!"

Gil's grip on his phone tightens and he sucks in a panicked breath. _Damn it kid, no,_ he thinks. _For once in your life, just shut up._

He can practically picture the scene in his mind as he listens to it play out. The woman in front of them in line had been several months pregnant, and really, it's no shock that Malcolm would offer himself in her place.

"Aw, that's sweet. But I think the pregnant lady will give us a little more insurance than you."

"You're wrong," Malcolm pushes, and Gil nearly screams into the phone. "I'm practically royalty in this city. And, I have connections with the NYPD, I can help you."

"Bright, what are you doing?" Gil mutters, heart seizing in his chest.

"It doesn't matter, just grab one and let's go," a quieter voice orders from further away.

Gil holds his breath, cursing when he hears an unmistakably male grunt of discomfort. "Lets go, fancy man," he hears one of the other men say, confirming Gil's fears. 

"No, no, damn it Malcolm!" Gil cries out. He rushes back towards the command center, urgently updating the negotiator and officer-in-charge about the change in the situation. 

***

Malcolm is used to high risk situations, but even still, his pulse quickens, adrenaline spiking as three armed men rush into the room, firing at the ceiling and ordering them all to the floor. 

The hostage situation progresses as he expects. His phone—still on an active call with Gil—is collected, and he breathes a sigh of relief when the man who takes it doesn't bother to check it and simply slips it into a bag with the rest. 

Two men stand over the hostages, keeping them subdued as the third makes a call. He's too far away for Malcolm to hear, which means he doesn't have any information to use in his favor. 

The negotiator must say something the other man doesn't want to hear. He hangs up with a string of angry curses, and orders the man who'd taken Malcolm’s phone to choose a hostage. Malcolm's pulse spikes once more as the man approaches, and grabs the young woman laying next to Malcolm. 

Her face is a mask of absolute terror, and her hand wraps protectively around the small bump of her stomach. Malcolm is speaking before he even realizes, offering himself for her, convincing him he's a more high value hostage than she is.

He doesn't think of what his husband-to-be must be thinking until he's being unceremoniously hauled to his feet with a bruising grip on his upper arm, and pushed towards the back of the room. There's a gun pressed to his back, a strong hand on his arm, no way to escape or pass a message to Gil.

"Listen, this doesn't need to go any further," Malcolm tries. "Let me talk to the authorities, we can work something out."

It earns him a harsh strike to the back of the head. "Shut up, there's nothing to do now but get the hell out of here, and you're gonna make sure we can do that."

Malcolm is dragged along to the back exit, then pushed out the door first as the man holding him cowers behind him, jamming his gun into Malcolm ribs hard enough to make him wince and bite back on a cry of pain. 

The light outside is bright, and Malcolm has to blink several times before his eyes adjust and he can make out the line of patrol cars and officers several yards away, watching their every step.

He's never been a hostage like this before. It's not a pleasant experience. He finds Gil in the crowd, and his breath catches in his throat when he sees the expression of terror on his fiance's face. He meets Gil’s harried and fearful gaze steadily, and tries to convey as much comfort and assurance as he can through a look, across the distance. Gil clenches his jaw, and doesn’t look away. 

It happens so fast, Malcolm barely realizes what’s happening. There's screaming from behind him, and he's jerked around roughly, held in front of the group with a gun pressed to his ribs, then to the back of his skull. 

Shots ring out through the air and he's pulled to the ground, a heavy body landing on top of him and a sharp pain exploding out from his back, just below his shoulder. His head hits the hard concrete, and everything goes black. 

***

When the snipers take their shots, and the men holding Malcolm fall to the ground, Malcolm drops with them, and Gil's heart freezes in his chest, the blood draining from his face so fast he feels light-headed, swaying in place. He tries several times to take a breath, to get his body to respond so he can go to his boy.

The medics are already rushing over, but once he gets moving, Gil rushes past them, throwing himself to the ground next to where Malcolm fell and pushing the body of his captor off without any thought to the condition of the other man. 

Malcolm’s back is covered in blood, but a quick search shows Gil that there's no wound there. He brushes a hand over Malcolm's face, afraid to move him but desperate to know he's uninjured. Malcolm blinks his eyes open slowly, groaning softly before pushing himself up just enough to meet Gil's eyes.

"Hey," he mutters.

" _Malcolm_ ," Gil breathes, relief coursing through him. "Don't ever do that to me again!"

"M' sorry. Couldn't let them take her…" Malcolm sighs.

"I know, kid. I know. I just… I can't lose you too, Bright."

The medics arrive, forestalling anything else they may want to say to each other as they begin to ask Malcolm a series of questions. Malcolm takes hold of Gil’s hand, holding it tightly throughout their questioning and examination. A thorough check shows that Malcolm is uninjured, and though he admits to having a sore back, it's determined to be nothing more than a nasty bruise from where the hard metal of the gun had slammed into his back when the man behind him had fallen on top him. Gil and Malcolm share a look, both very much aware of how badly things could have gone if the gun had gone off in the fall, and Gil’s grip on Malcolm’s hand tightens briefly as a wave of fear courses through him once more.

Once he's cleared by the medics, Gil helps Malcolm carefully to his feet with one hand under an elbow and the other wrapped ‘round his hip. Malcolm’s bloody, though none of it's his, and a little bruised, but he's _whole_ and _well,_ and Gil wraps him in a careful hug before guiding him away from the bodies and the building.

"Hey, Gil?" Malcolm says as they make their way towards his car.

"Yeah kid?"

"Do you think they'll make us wait in that line again?"

Gil laughs, hugging his love close, grateful to have him safe in his arms once more.


End file.
